Gotye Gone Awry
by ravenclawdancer4999
Summary: During Judas Redux rehearsals, the cast is in desperate need of some fun. The solution? Pranking Liam. A quick three-shot Starkid RPF (tad bit AU, seeing as the outcome of the prank changes slightly). Rated T for a few swears.
1. A Prank of Epic Proportions

**Hey everyone! In honor of it being less than a week until I get to see Starkid live, I wanted to give you all a quick little RPF fic. So this is based on the Gotye prank video posted on the Judas Redux channel, which if you haven't seen it, go watch it immediately because it's hysterical. It talks about how there was no confrontation on Liam's part - well, in this fic, there is...(so I guess this is a tad bit AU?) Anyway, hope you enjoy! Read and review! Hugs and butterfly kisses, ravenclawdancer4999.**

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"Okay, so we're set to go?" Lauren uttered under her breath, referring to the prank of epic proportions they were going to play on Liam. The plan was simple; the group, led by Julia, would effectively convince Liam that they were going to use Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" as the final music of the show, coming in at the end of his final monologue. They would then proceed to watch Liam lose his mind and figure out the best way possible to break the prank.

"Locked and loaded," Joey grinned evilly, "Everyone knows what to do."

"Alright, I set an hour aside for this, so don't screw it up," Julia warned. Everyone nodded subtly as Liam walked into the theater.

"Okay, so now that everyone's here, we're going to run through tech for the last line of the show," Julia explained, "Clark, Pierce, and I figured out some music to fade out the end of the show. Liam, get into position for your monologue." Liam complied, hopping up on the stair unit and sliding into a sitting position. He brought his focus on to his character, delivering the speech flawlessly. Taking a deep breath, he heard the thumping of music. It was, familiar, almost too familiar.

"But you didn't have to cut me off-" Gotye's voice echoed through the theater. The lights went down almost immediately, masking the look of shock that inevitably found its way on to Liam's face. They were using a pop song? That pop song?

By the time the lights came back up, everyone in the theater was murmuring to each other, whispers filling the room. Surely no one would go along with this?

"That song is perfect," Reed remarked, "I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner."

"It's just so appropriate for the end of the show," Ali agreed, "Major snaps, Julia."

"I can't take all the credit," Julia said bashfully, "Clark and Pierce played it for me and it just hit me that we should use it in the show."

By this point, Liam was eyeing everyone suspiciously – something about this didn't seem quite right to him. Just then, Dan stood up from his seat. Liam knew _he_ would never go along with something like this and silently prayed he would end the madness. Unfortunately for Liam, Dan did no such thing.

"I love it," he nodded. Liam's jaw dropped – if Dan thought it was good, than this must not be some sort of joke. "I think it highlights not only the way the show ends, but how good a song it is. It's incredible, it's extremely powerful."

"Exactly," Brian added, "It's a beautiful image, with the lighting and the rain."

"Clark, Pierce," Alex smiled, "You two are officially brilliant."

"Just a moment of inspiration, I don't know," Clark replied.

"That's awesome," Aaron remarked to Reed, who nodded in agreement.

Everyone continued to discuss how great the song was for the next two minutes until Julia finally cut in, after fervently praising Clark and Pierce.

"Awesome, how are you guys feeling about that?" Julia asked. Liam silently begged someone, anyone to say that they weren't so sure about the song selection. Much to his dismay, their opinions remained 100% positive. "What about you Liam?"

"What?" Liam blanched, realizing Julia was addressing him directly. "Oh, yeah. It's great." He knew the lie was a feeble one, but surprisingly, everyone appeared to believe him, which made him even more suspicious. Julia would never make _that_ bad a decision, would she?

"Can we run that one more time?" Julia requested, "I just want to make sure all the elements are coming together the right way." And so, Liam and the tech team ran the scene for a second time. A third time. A fourth time, and so on.

Liam felt as though he had been offered crazy juice and was being forced to drink. Had everyone lost their mind?

"That is awesome," Dan commented after the fifth run through.

"Clark!" Lauren beamed, bounding over to give the pianist a hug, "It's such a good song the way it is – you didn't even need to change it! So good!"

"It is really calming," Dylan observed.

"I think that song was, like, such a hit," Dan said, continuing his conversation with Pierce.

"It is really calming," Julia agreed with Dylan, "Very calming."

Liam felt like screaming and asking everyone what they had been smoking to make their judgment so impaired. But he couldn't just come right out and tell Julia it was a horrible idea – she was the director, not Liam. He had dealt with his fair share of rude actors and knew just how much it sucked, which was exactly why he couldn't disrespect Julia that way.

"Liam, you feel good about that?" Julia questioned.

"Yeah, yeah," Liam responded quickly, trying to suppress his unhappiness.

"It's something about the matching of your last line to the first part of the song," Julia noted, tapping her fingers thoughtfully, "It just doesn't seem quite right, can we start it just a bit earlier?" So Liam and the tech team did the scene yet again.

"Cool," she nodded.

"Yes!" Lauren exclaimed.

"So beautiful," Brian added.

As soon as he had the chance, Liam started to casually approach different members of the cast and ask them their thoughts on the matter He hoped that maybe they might change their tune if he asked out of Julia's earshot. But none of them did.

"So, what do you guys think about the choice of this song?" Liam asked Joe and Aaron quietly, "I don't know if I like that choice."

"I think it's great," Joe replied earnestly, Aaron nodding in agreement. Immediately, Liam backed off the subject and excused himself from the conversation.

"I think Julia may be making a big mistake here," Liam confessed to Nico a few moments later, "Doesn't she know how many times the song has been parodied?"

"I'm sure she does, Liam," Nico shrugged, "If you have a problem, you should tell Julia."

"No, no I couldn't," Liam shook his head, retreating quickly, "I don't want to overstep my boundaries."

"What do you think of the choice of the Gotye song?" he asked Alex, Jessica, and Brittany a minute later.

"It's really edgy, totally inspired," Brittany enthused, "What, you don't like it?"

"I'm just a bit, unsure," Liam admitted.

"She must have a very specific choice in mind," Jessica said calmly. As they walked away, he pulled Dylan aside, who he thought might actually be honest with him.

"Do you think this is a really cheap move?" Liam murmured, "The Gotye song, I mean? I don't know, this just doesn't seem right. Who do I talk to?"

"You're really going to have to talk to Julia," Dylan shrugged, "If you want my opinion, if it's artfully done, the show will be fine."

"Really?" Liam stammered, completely mortified by the response, "Because I don't-"

"Liam," Julia called, interrupting his train of thought, "We're going to run the cue again."

"Okay, Julia," Liam sighed, reluctantly moving back toward the stair unit. He slid back into a sitting position and waited for his signal to start.

Meanwhile, Dylan was relaying his conversation with Liam to Joe in its entirety. Joe, who had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing, chanced a look at Liam and saw that he looked absolutely miserable. He clearly hated what was going on around him, but was too nice to say something that might be considered disrespectful.

"What's going to make this prank really great is if we can get him to make a public stink about it," Joe murmured, picturing the outburst Julia could give if Liam approached her about it.

"I think I can make that happen," Dylan grinned mischievously, glancing back over at Liam, "Watch and learn." Wasting no time, Dylan strode across the room and went up to him. Liam looked up at him.

"What?" Liam questioned, a small part of him hoping Dylan had come to his senses and saw what a bad decision they were making.

"You should really say something to Julia," Dylan replied quietly, but firmly.

"No man, it's the middle of rehearsal," Liam answered, looking dumbfounded that Dylan would suggest such a thing.

"If it's really bothering you, which I can tell that it is, you should say something," Dylan urged, "The longer you wait, the worse you're going to make it for yourself. Julia's not going to get mad at you for having an opinion, so just tell her now before we spend any more time on this."

"…I'll think about it," Liam conceded, "Just get out of here, I think we're about to start again."

As Liam was forced to do the scene again and again, he thought about what Dylan had said. Was it really so wrong of him to have an opinion of the decision? Julia had been really stressed out that week, maybe she was so eager to finalize the technical elements that she wasn't thinking clearly. Maybe she really did want people to be honest with her and Liam would be doing the right thing to tell her what he thought.

Julia's requests only seemed to get more ridiculous each time they restarted the scene. She asked if Clark could start the music earlier, so it came up underneath Liam's last line. Each time, she wanted the music to start earlier and earlier, eventually just drowning him out completely.

"I really think it needs to come up fully under the last two lines," Julia remarked on the fifth time through, motioning for everyone to restart, "What do you think Liam, how do you feel about that?"

"Um, it comes in a little suddenly," Liam answered, trying to keep his tone indifferent, "I don't know if it's just me, but it _seemed_ like it came in a little suddenly."

"Yeah, I think I like it coming in earlier," Brian nodded. When no one was looking, Liam drew a deep breath, his lips pursed tightly as he tried to calm down before the next round of torture.

"Why don't I just sing the song?" he commented sarcastically, thinking that no one was paying attention.

"Yeah, do you want to do that? Do you feel that impulse?" Julia asked abruptly, looking positively enthralled by the idea. "What if we had you hum it a little bit?" That had not been the reaction Liam was going for.

"Sure," Liam agreed, feeling as though he was about to throw a chair across the room.

"Just hum the last little bit after you say your last line," Julia instructed, "Just go for it, try it."


	2. This Conversation is Over

Liam did as he was told as the rest of the room looked on. Julia observed Liam from her chair at the tech table, thoroughly impressed with his resilience, but still somewhat disappointed by his lack of reaction. She had kept pushing him further in the hope of him instigating a confrontation but he had yet to take the bait.

However, she knew it was only a matter of time before he broke. From the outside eye, Liam appeared perfectly okay, but Julia could tell from his expressions and body language that he was frustrated beyond belief. He was in shock of how stupid the decision was and wasn't going to last much longer.

Similarly, Liam knew at this rate, it wouldn't be long before Julia asked him to sing the song like a complete idiot. He looked over to Dylan, who gave a meaningful glance at Julia, as though he was telling him it was now or never. Nervously, Liam got to his feet and went over to the tech table.

"Julia, can I talk to you for a second?" Liam asked, clearly tentative as he shifted from foot to foot.

"Of course, Liam," Julia nodded, her expression unchanged as the wheels in her head began to turn. This is what she had been waiting for. She knew _exactly_ what he wanted to talk to her about, and it certainly wasn't about how much he loved the Gotye song. "You can always ask me anything, you know that."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he replied, looking slightly relieved. Maybe this wouldn't be as awful as he thought. "It's about, the Gotye song."

"Isn't it great?" she smiled, holding back her amusement, "Clark and Pierce played for me earlier this week and I thought it was absolutely brilliant."

"Yeah, it's a good song," Liam swallowed, "I was just wondering why you specifically chose it."

"If you listen to the lyrics, it really does evoke the feeling I want at the end of the play and completely captures the relationship between Jesus and Judas," Julia responded enthusiastically, laying it on thick, "It'll be such a great way to end the show. Why do you ask?" Liam paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Doyouthinkthatmaybeyourushedthisdecisionalittlebit?" Liam said quickly, slurring the words together.

"What?" Julia cocked an eyebrow, just looking confused more than anything else.

"Do you think that maybe you rushed this decision a little bit?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"…I think that this might not be the best artistic choice for this show in particular. It's just that the song has been parodied so many times and it seems really inappropriate for the serious tone we've worked so hard to set."

"I understand where you're coming from Liam, but if this is done properly, it'll be amazing."

"I'm not questioning your judgment Julia, but I feel like you should at least think it over before you make a final decision." Julia allowed her body to tense up slightly, and her tone became slightly cooler.

"What is there to think about?"

"All I'm saying is that this past week has been insane with moving into the theatre and half the cast in London; you've been really stressed and have made some, strange, choices that you regretted later because of it." Julia could have hugged Liam; he had just left the window of opportunity wide open for her. Her stance immediately became more threatening as she drew herself up to her full height, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"So you're saying that I'm indecisive?"

"That's not what I-"

"You think that I've made multiple bad decisions because I'm incapable of working under pressure?" she continued, her volume rising by the second.

"No, not at all-" Liam stammered.

"Unbelievable! This is just unbelievable! And from you!" Julia ranted, "I thought you of all people would understand how it feels to be disrespected by an actor. If you think I'm such an awful director, than just say it!"

"I never said anything like that!" Liam exclaimed. By this time, the two had drawn the attention of the rest of the room. It took a significant amount of effort for them to stifle their snickering and put on an air of concern and terror.

"I got you into this room Liam White, and I can kick you out just as easily. I do not have time to stand here and argue with you over this. I don't know if you've noticed, but we have a show opening in a week and I have more important things to do than put up with your bullshit. So you can either do what I ask you, or you can leave, but this conversation is over."

"Julia-"

"Over."

Julia turned on her heel and stomped out into the lobby. Liam stood in the same spot for nearly a minute, still frozen with fear and shock.

"Dude, what did you say to her?" Daniel uttered, "Even I've never pissed her off that much."

"I just asked her if she thought the Gotye song was the right choice for this show," Liam said incredulously. The entire room groaned.

"Are you still going on about that?" Joey scowled.

"Dylan told me if it was really bothering me that I should say something," Liam accused.

"I said you should say something, not send Julia over the edge," Dylan grimaced, glaring at Liam.

"This is just great," Ali murmured, "We have a little over a week before we open and our director is already about to kill someone."

"I still can't see why she got so mad, all I said was that I wasn't sure if the decision she made was the right one," Liam protested.

"She's the director for heaven's sake Liam, her decisions are always the right ones," Alex replied exasperatedly, massaging her temple.

"This whole thing is ridiculous!" Liam grumbled, "Julia's never had an issue with me making a suggestion, I don't see why-"

"I think that's enough out of you for today, Liam," Lauren cut in sharply, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try to do some damage control. Corey, you come too." The pair swiftly exited the theatre and walked out into the lobby. They found Julia, sitting with her back against the wall and grinning from ear to ear. The minute she and Lauren made eye contact, they burst out laughing, Corey joining in shortly after.

"That was the funniest thing I've seen since we pranked Joey and Brian!" Lauren snorted, "Oh my god, Liam looked like he was going to shit himself. Corey, please tell me you filmed that."

"Obviously," he grinned, "Wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to relive the moment."

"We'll have to burn it to a disc so I can use it for auditions," Julia chuckled gleefully.

"Forget auditions, we'll mail that shit to Julliard," Lauren proclaimed, "We'll get you into that MFA program in no time."

"How did you manage to be that convincing?" Corey asked curiously, "For a minute there, I legitimately thought you were going to throw Liam out of the show."

"I've got a lot of rage Lubowich, it's all about channeling it," Julia laughed, continuing to do so until tears began to slip down her cheeks, "Holy shit, I'm a mess."

"That gives me an amazing idea," Lauren grinned mischievously, leaning over to whisper something in her roommate's ear.

"That's despicable," Julia shook her head, before grinning evilly, "I love it." Lauren turned to Corey and whispered the plan in his ear in the same manner.

"Sometimes I wonder what would happen if you two used your powers for good instead of evil," he commented.

"Life would be boring," Julia answered, standing up.

"Can we help it that we like to spice things up a bit?" Lauren shrugged, prepping herself to go back into the theater. She nodded to Corey, who promptly pulled out his phone and texted Shoshana.

A few seconds later, Shoshana's phone buzzed lightly in the back pocket of her jeans as she was chatting with Alex. Seeing it was from Corey, she briefly surveyed the room; everyone was talking quietly amongst themselves, with the exception of Liam, who was sitting on the edge of the stage by himself. She opened the text and scanned over the message.

"This prank is about to get even more interesting. Lauren's coming in to say something to the cast, spread the word and react accordingly."

Shoshana grinned and showed Britney the message. The two girls promptly spread the word to the rest of the female cast and forwarded the message to Aaron, who did the same with the male cast, with the exception of Liam. Not five minutes later, Lauren walked back into the room. Before saying anything, she went over to the tech table and collected both hers and Julia's belongings. She turned to the cast, who all wore a look of concern (only one of them being genuine).

"What happened?" Jessica asked quietly, "Where's Julia?"

"Well, I went out into the lobby and I found her sitting on the floor, crying," Lauren replied, her expression almost unreadable, with hints of both worry and anger. "She kept saying, 'Why did I think I could do this?' Over and over again. Seems to me that she thinks she's an awful director."

"Just because of something stupid Liam said?" Shoshana said disbelievingly.

"It wasn't just him," Lauren exhaled deeply. "I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone this, but she's been really down on herself recently, second-guessing a lot of her decisions. I've tried to tell her that she's doing an incredible job, but she doesn't seem to see that because of all the stress she's under. Liam's commentary just pushed her over the edge."

"What are we going to do now?" Britney questioned, "We can't continue rehearsal, not with Julia like this."

"She told me to tell all of you that we're going to break for dinner a little earlier tonight," Lauren explained, her tone still somewhat distant, "But we'll still come back and start at the normal time, so you'll have an hour and a half break. Just make sure you come back on time. Corey and I are going to take Julia out to dinner, try to help her see reason and maybe calm her down."

Everyone nodded grimly as Lauren swiftly exited the theater yet again. Once she had disappeared, the rest of the cast all turned to Liam and looked at him harshly.

"You couldn't have waited to tell Julia until after rehearsal?" Jessica remarked coolly.

"Better yet, you couldn't have just left it alone?" Nico added.

"But, it was in the best interest of the show," Liam stammered weakly, "It wasn't to insult her or make her feel bad, I would never-"

"You had better have a damn good apology for Julia when we come back from dinner," Joey interjected sternly, looking angrier than many had ever seen him.

The group all gathered their bags and trickled out of the theatre, splitting off in to groups until Liam was left by himself. Everyone made it clear that his company wasn't wanted for the time being, so he went down the street and ate alone.


	3. Immature, Not Amateur

Meanwhile Corey, Lauren, and Julia were only two blocks away, laughing about the whole thing along with the rest of the cast.

"You know, a part of me almost feels bad for Liam," Reed mused, "Making him go through all this hell for our own amusement…"

"He signed up for this the day he joined the show," Dan chuckled, "No one is safe, he just happened to be the unlucky victim."

"What I want to know, is where Julia's Oscar is," Ali remarked, "Because that performance was flawless."

"I can't take all the credit, I'd like to thank the Academy," Julia proclaimed, "Dylan, for suggesting that Liam say something to me about the song choice, and of course, Liam for being such a gullible victim …"

"I'd hate to see how we would treat him if we didn't like him," Britney laughed, "So how are we going to break the prank when we get back?"

"We've got it all figured out," Lauren grinned, leaning in to tell everyone the plan.

Liam was the first to return to the theater after a lonely meal of trying to craft an apology, not wanting to give everyone yet another reason to be angry with him.

Everyone filed back into the theater after dinner, almost completely silent and still eyeing Liam coldly. Liam sat off by himself once more, his expression unreadable as a he stared at the door and waited for it to open. Eventually, Lauren and Corey entered, giving everyone a small nod to indicate their director was on her way. Soon enough, Julia reentered purposefully and went over to set her bag down on the tech table.

Shakily, Liam got to his feet and slowly approached Julia. He could feel all eyes on him as he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Julia, can I talk to you?" Liam murmured guiltily.

"Can it wait, Liam?" Julia responded stoically, "I need to talk to the cast for a minute before we start."

"Of course," Liam nodded, swiftly backing off. He wasn't about to incur her wrath again. "Whatever you say, Julia."

"Can you all please take a seat?" Julia called.

The cast hurriedly sat down, all eyes on Julia. The girl took a deep breath, momentarily shutting her eyes as she gathered her thoughts.

"I just wanted to take a minute to apologize to all of you," Julia started, "The way I was acting earlier tonight was childish and unprofessional; I shouldn't have walked out on all of you like that, I could have handled it better, and I'm sorry. The reality of the situation is that I feel a ton of pressure to make this show perfect, not just for everyone coming to see it, but for all of you. I don't want to let any of you down."

Liam immediately felt even more guilty than he did when he walked in, and sank lower in his seat, trying to avoid everyone's eyes.

"That being said, we've got a shit ton of work to do after this afternoon's fiasco," she continued in a no-nonsense tone, approaching Liam as though daring him to say something. Since he didn't look up, he couldn't see the self-satisfied smirk that was finding its way on to Julia's face. "Let's start where we left off earlier, and actually, we're going to re-tech the whole scene because Liam, we're not using the fucking Gotye song."

The room exploded with laughter as Liam's head shot up so fast, he could have sworn he gave himself whiplash. His eyes were wide with shock as he looked around, dumbfounded. All at once, he realized that he had been pranked, big time.

"You were right, it was a terrible idea!" Joey guffawed, giving a thump on the back, "Glad you figured that out, because this joke wouldn't have been funny otherwise."

"We're not using that song, Liam! Do you think we're fucking morons?" Lauren shouted through her laughter, "SCREW YOU!"

"Got your ass," Joe chuckled.

"You actually thought we were going to make that stupid a decision," Brian snorted, "We're immature, not amateur."

"He was like, 'I don't want to say this in front of everyone, but, this is such a poor choice,'" Dylan chortled.

"So, you were never really mad?" Liam asked Julia, still partially stunned. She smirked mischievously.

"Just because I'm a director doesn't change the fact that I have a degree in acting," Julia smiled, "I've got to give you props though, you didn't break as easily as we thought you would. I just hope you aren't mad at us."

There was a short silence, which made everyone slightly nervous. Liam realized that in that moment, he wasn't mad or humiliated as he probably should have been, but extremely happy. He didn't have any kind of mirror, but he was pretty sure he looked as though he might puke with relief.

` "All I've got to say is, thank God," Liam answered, giving a smile, "I'm just so relieved. To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't make me sing the song like a complete asshole while you were at it."

"It will always haunt me a little that I didn't," Julia admitted, "But had I done it, I think we all would have lost it altogether."

"All things aside, well played," Liam conceded, "I may need therapy after that emotional trauma, but you guys got me good."

"Glad to hear it," Julia nodded, "But for real, now we really have to get back to work." Everyone nodded and scrambled to where they needed to be. The minute Julia had turned her back, Liam pulled Alex aside.

"You know that prank you and Dan were talking about pulling during the run of the show? Lying to Julia that Jessica couldn't make it?" Liam murmured.

"Yeah," Alex replied, raising an eyebrow, "What about it?"

"It should be Julia who has to take Jessica's place, instead of Shoshana," Liam said, his voice dangerously calm, "Just think about it." Without another word, Liam walked off to take his place onstage again. So much for no hard feelings.


End file.
